Tour company Ukraine.Today is inviting visitors to see the country's "destroyed cities and brave people fighting" and experience life during the Russian invasion. From CNN:
It says anyone signing up for the tours can expect walks among bomb debris, ruined buildings, cathedrals and stadiums, as well as burned out military hardware, plus the regular wail of air raid sirens. Landmines are also a risk.
While it might seem like a ghoulish way to spend a vacation, Visit Ukraine's founder and CEO Anton Taranenko tells CNN Travel it's not the same as "dark tourism" that sees visitors flock to other sites of death, disaster and destruction around the world.
Taranenko says the tours represent a chance for Ukraine to highlight its citizens' spirit of defiance as well as showing the outside world that life goes on, even in a war.
Of course, this is ill-advised according to international travel advisories and the Ukraine government itself.
"Now is not the appropriate time to visit, but after we win and the war is over, we will invite people to visit Ukraine," said Mariana Oleskiv, chairperson at the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine.
